


Blake's Study Group: Âme Oblige

by Kiiratam



Series: Blake's Study Group [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Canon Compliant, Chivalry, F/F, Fluff, Philosophy, Studying, medieval romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:48:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22555837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiiratam/pseuds/Kiiratam
Summary: What obligations does an Aura bring? Jaune and Nora have questions, and Blake's going to try to help.Takes place between Volumes 1 and 2. (My BMBLB fic index)
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long
Series: Blake's Study Group [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2097744
Comments: 17
Kudos: 66





	Blake's Study Group: Âme Oblige

"I'm sorry, Blake, I must have missed something."

  
"It's okay, Jaune." The study session had been going pretty well, all things considered.

  
He stared down at his notes, trying to piece his thoughts together. "I just... there's all this talk about _âme oblige_ , and I couldn't stop thinking - yeah, you've got an active Aura. Anyone can have one. Why build up this whole code of behavior around something that takes thirty seconds to unlock?"

  
Nora was stretching out her right arm, leaning back in her chair. "It's not _just_ Aura. It's everything else too."

  
Blake nodded at Nora. "Go on."

  
"I mean, knowing how to fight. Being able to do all the cool Aura tricks. Aura's just uh, what was the word you used, Blake? Where you describe something using a part of it?"

  
"Synecdoche."

  
"Yeah, the doohickey." Nora switched arms. "Aura's just the part everyone can see. Sometimes."

  
"Okay." Jaune spread his hands. "So there's this visible manifestation, and if you have it, what's to stop you from just pretending you have all the rest? Con everyone, and get the benefits without the work? Again, thirty seconds."

  
Blake was really glad Jaune was on her side, sometimes. His brain worked in strange ways. So did Ruby's, but she moved in straight lines and curves. Jaune just squiggled. "First of all, who activated your Aura?" She held up a hand when he started to answer. "Rhetorical, but Pyrrha's relevant, because she's still working under a modern version of _âme oblige_. She activated your Aura, she took responsibility for your training. So in order for your scheme to even get started, you have to convince someone else to forgo their _âme oblige_."

  
"Well yeah, but - they made up a whole system of rules. They wouldn't have to do that if everyone was acting upright."

  
Nora snorted. "And rules are made to be broken."

  
"Yeah, but it was a self-enforcing system. The world wasn't safe enough back then that you could stay away from the Grimm completely. Especially if you had an active Aura, and everyone _knew_ that you should be heading towards the Grimm." Blake turned up her hands. "I suppose that if you were really smart, you might be able to reap the social benefits of having an active Aura, and dodge the responsibilities... but the world was also a lot smaller back then. If you didn't have someone to vouch for you, who's to say you weren't a bandit?"

  
"I guess."

  
"Plus, I'm sure there were a lot safer cons to pull."

  
"Well, that's another thing." Jaune drummed his fingers on the desk. "Aura keeps you safe. That's the whole reason for it. Not just from Grimm, but falls, accidents, and you heal faster with it. Why, now, doesn't everyone just have an active Aura?"

  
"Duh." Nora leaned forward, and said in a loud whisper. "People with active Auras are harder to control."

  
"Wow, Nora. Cynical much?" Blake gave her a grin. "You're not _wrong_ , but you're also jumping way ahead to post-Great War revolutionary philosophy."

  
Nora screwed up her face. "Wait, that recent? They didn't think of that earlier? How dumb were they?"

  
"Remember why we read Mr. Kong?"

  
"Oh." She nodded. "It's not that no one thought it, it's that no one wrote it down before then."

  
"Exactly. Literacy rates went way up after the Great War. And people felt a lot more free to express themselves, so..."

  
Nora kept nodding.

  
Leaning back in his chair, Jaune asked, "But Aura is so useful. I mean, to pretend to be Weiss for a second, think how much money all the governments would save on healthcare if everyone had an active Aura. I can't believe that a cynical desire to retain power - from democratic governments - would over-rule the economics of it." He frowned. "If it was _just_ ethics, yeah, maybe. I mean, look at how horrible the Mistral pre-War government acted. But money? They love money."

  
"Well, one of the studies that was done in Mantle showed that Aura acts sort of like a emotional focusing lens."

  
Jaune nodded. "I mean, that's the whole point. Turn your emotions and all the rest of you into a shield for your physical body."

  
"Right. But specifically, what they found was that Grimm are more attracted to someone with an active Aura."

  
Nora made a disgusted noise. "I'm sure these were _incredibly ethical_ experiments."

  
"It was exactly as bad as you're thinking. But the theory that came out of it - and this was confirmed by less evil science later - is that an active Aura makes your emotions 'louder' to the Grimm. That's actually really helpful for Huntresses, because it means that Grimm are more likely to go after us than civilians."

  
Jaune got it. "But it means that if the entire population has an active Aura, Grimm attacks are going to go way up."

  
"Exactly. It's not just to maintain a monopoly on force; it's also for everyone else's protection. On the level of civilization, not the individual."

  
"Argh." Nora pulled a face. "I hate it."

  
Blake nodded. "It's the compromise of civilization. You _have_ to give up some of your individuality. But it means you don't have to do everything yourself." She gave Nora a look. "And really, you're in one of the best positions in society to maximize your individuality and still get all the benefits. But, getting back to the reading..."

  
Jaune finished her thought. "...it comes with obligations."

  
"Right. Huntresses aren't really a _new_ idea, not in terms of what we do. The Auric Order in Vale, Anima Xia, Sellsoul mercenary bands, Mantle Heathguards - they all did the same thing. The new thing with Huntsmen and Huntresses was making it into a global identity. But you can draw a direct line of descent from _âme oblige_ to modern attitudes. We have power, and because of that, we have responsibilities. And a big part of that is enforcing that code of behavior on everyone like us."

  
Slowly nodding, Jaune said, "It's self-enforcing in multiple ways. If you break it, everyone else comes after you. Because by breaking your obligations, you're calling _their_ dedication to their obligations into question."

  
Nora asked, "But we still have rogue Huntresses, and bandits, and all that."

  
Blake suspected strongly that Nora was including the White Fang in 'all that'. Which was true, but it always surprised her a bit when she noticed Nora being tactful. "Even with the CCTS, Remnant is a big place. And people are good at finding holes in systems. But as long as people believe in the idea, it works."

  
"But they stopped. That's the whole point, right?" Jaune flipped to the last page of his notes. "The whole thing fell apart because people like the Sellsouls decided that the rules didn't apply to them."

  
"And basically became bandits, yes. Which is what led to the rise of local warlords raising bigger and bigger armies, and politics and loyalty oaths to the emerging kingdoms became more important than the internal philosophical systems of people with active Auras."

  
Nora groaned. "And we're back to the Great War."

  
"Eventually, yes."

  
"We already _have_ one history class. I don't need _two_."

  
Blake sighed. "Nora."

  
"I _get_ it, I just don't have to like it."

  
Jaune shrugged. "I mean, at least the reading is better than Mr. Kong, Nora."

  
"Yeah, I guess. There's a lot more fighting, even if it is just smote this and smite that, and stuff. But none of the stories really fit together. And I really don't like all the weird romantic stuff."

  
Blake didn't even know where to start. Fortunately, she didn't have to. There was a knock at the door, and Yang poked her head in. "How's it going?"

  
Sighing, Jaune said, "I'm just surprised we made it this far."

  
"Um." Yang looked around the room. "We as in you three, we as a class-"

  
"Civilization."

  
"Oh." Yang slipped inside, and leaned on the table. "Well, we're not dead yet, so it can't be going that badly."

  
Nora sighed, and put her feet up on the table. "I bet bandits don't have to go to history class."

  
Suppressing a sigh of her own, Blake glanced up at Yang for help.

  
"So, do you think you understand the material?"

  
"I just..." Jaune gestured angrily at his notes. "What's the _point_? They outlined their philosophy, and then failed to live up to it. And modern Huntsmen philosophy is based on this?"

  
"Relax, you're still in the middle of the messy parts." Yang pulled up a chair, sitting next to Blake. "They found an ideal, and they chased it. It's a good ideal, don't lose sight of that."

  
"What, and the complete failure to actually catch it doesn't matter?"

  
"It matters. But it's not everything. Destination _and_ journey. Both are important. Whether that's philosophy or history."

  
Blake cut in. "And we're still not on applicable philosophy yet. There's still a lot more context to cover, before we get to modern thought."

  
Nora groaned. "Stupid theoretical frameworks. Stupid context."

  
Rolling her eyes, Blake didn't even say anything. Nora was just whining now.

  
But Jaune didn't look much better. And Blake hated to end the study session here, with both of them demoralized. "Hey, Nora, you said something about not liking the romance parts. Want to talk about that?"

  
Making a disgusted noise, Nora asked exactly the question Blake was expecting. "Why?"

  
"Because it's something different. And it's something I studied on my own, so you won't have to worry about me repeating Goodwitch or Oobleck."

  
Nora sighed. But she did put her feet down and start talking. "I just really don't like it. The whole point seems to be pining after someone, who may or may not know you even exist. And you can't have them, ever, even if they _do_ know who you are, _and_ they feel the same way. That's _terrible_!" 

  
And Jaune was nodding along. Blake didn't let herself look to see if Yang was too. She had other worries. Like how to explain this without using the word 'context.' "This was when arranged marriages were normal, Nora. There were no guarantees that you'd like your spouse. They had to find love where they could."

  
Leaning back in her chair, Nora said, "History sucks."

  
Yang chimed in. "You'd rather they just sit down and take it? They tried, even though the situation was bad."

  
Blake definitely heard an unspoken 'Could you also try?' in there.

  
Aimlessly flipping through his notes, Jaune asked, "So all the serenades, and the dedication of deeds, and wearing of favors... they're just, what? More journeys, knowing the destination is unreachable?"

  
"If you had a choice," Blake asked, "Would you rather be close to someone you loved, or not?"

  
"Oh come on, that's not a fair question!"

  
Yang grinned at him. "But it is an easy question."

  
"Fine." With a look that said he'd just as rather not set off the bear trap with his hand, Jaune said, "I would want to be close to them."

  
"And that was the point of this romantic mode. Get as close as you could. And if nothing ever happened, it was because of the control everyone involved demonstrated. Their loyalty to their oaths, even if they didn't like it." For all that she was talking it up, it sounded horrible to Blake too. But given the alternative...

  
"Wait." Nora was engaged again. " What about the people who _don't_ live up to the ideal? Like Jaune's rule-benders?"

  
Yang laughed. "They get their reward. And if they're too indiscreet, they're in a _whole_ lot of trouble."

  
Picking up on that, Blake kept going with the thought. "And that does happen in some of the stories. The results are pretty bad. Kingdoms falling, golden ages broken, having to fight and kill your best friends..."

  
Jaune starting nodding. "It's another way to make people behave. By showing the heroes making mis-steps, the authors are trying to keep actual people from making the same mistakes. But it didn't _work_ , in the long run!"

  
Shrugging, Blake admitted, "No. People make mistakes. But they tried, and we can study them, and learn from their mistakes."

  
"And make all new ones!" Yang said with a grin. "Speaking of learning from mistakes, we need to get to practice. You know how Weiss gets." She pushed her chair back, and grabbed Blake's bookbag.

  
Blake did. It was especially annoying because she got no thrill out of annoying Weiss _Schnee_. It was just Weiss; she could be a pain, but she wasn't a monster. Despite her family name. Blake found herself admiring Weiss' work ethic, and her punctuality, and- "You two feel okay with the material?" Blake stood up, scraping together her notes.

  
"Yeah, I _guess_." Nora sighed, and got to her feet too. She picked up her study guide, shaking her head.

  
Gathering up his notes, Jaune said, "I think I got it. I'm talking to Pyrrha about it later, though, so we may come up with more questions."

  
"You know where to find me." Blake handed her notes to Yang, who put them away.

As they started down the hallway, towards the locker rooms, she said, "I can carry my own bag, you know."

  
Yang grinned at her. "I know. But if I'm going to keep crashing your study sessions, it's the least I can do. They doing alright?"

  
Blake didn't hear either of them in the hallway yet, but she still lowered her voice a bit. "I think so. I'm just having to fight with Nora to keep her engaged, and Jaune - he's just unpredictable. But at least he asks questions."

  
"I can always send a message to my dad, ask him for teaching advice."

  
_It couldn't hurt._ "If he has any book suggestions, that might be best."

  
"I did think your bringing up romances was a good move. Kept Nora engaged, got Jaune thinking. You're good at this."

  
Blake ducked her head in acknowledgement. It was just a compliment; why couldn't she talk all of the sudden?

  
"More Bumblebee today?"

  
_It's just Yang. Remember to breathe._ "Yeah. I had some thoughts on our release problem."


End file.
